January 2012 Classical Medicine Health and Wellness Journal

 

  

This post covers December 2011 - January 2012

 

3 January 2012

 

Where did the lovely holiday season go so quickly? And oh, what an interminable horse race we face in 2012. Even tonight, it begins. A recent Classical Medicine Journal post casts a surprising slant on why our divided selves can't seem to see each other's point of view. A simple experiment performed by researchers at New York University and UCLA shows that liberals and conservations actually think differently. This news falls somewhere between extremely encouraging and highly depressing; but no matter what, it's an interesting read. Both Right and Left might want to heed research published in theJournal of Neuroscience that reveals increasing the concentration of magnesium in the brain increases cognitive ability, the facility that controls fear and anxiety. More magnesium leads to less anxiety. So, instead of arguing politics, perhaps we should all break broccoli together?

 

End-of-the-year reading brought some treats for people interested in homeopathy: a summary of results from an observational study in Austria that showed homeopathic allergy treatment delivered success without side-effects; an announcement from India of the first study using humans to test the effectiveness of homeopathy to combat Japanese Encephalitis (JE); and an almost poetic look at new research into the possibility of water retaining "memory."

 

Another popular post profiled Mr. Li Qing Yun, a Chinese medicine physician, herbal expert and qi gong master who was believed to be 256 years old when he died in 1933. Mr. Li's advice for achieving such longevity? “Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon, sleep like a dog.” He drank goji berry tea but not "hard liquor." A vegatarian and non-smoker, he embodied the "early to bed, early to rise" adage. He also liked to play cards and gamble, doing both badly and always maintaining a cheerful demeanor while losing. There has to be a lesson in all that. If you're in the Tampa Bay area, you can learn some of his daily qi gong routine at these weekly classes. BYO goji juice.

 

By the way, it's probably best to severely limit the amount of time any laptop device spends in your lap. A study in the journal Fertility and Sterility found that exposure to radiation from laptop WiFi for four hours damaged sperm DNA and decreased motility. Of course, this adverse effect was only observed in sperm. But could it be good for ovaries, either? Might just have to dust off one of those old paperbacks. You knew you kept some around for a reason.

 

Happy New Year. Let's all resolve in 2012 to eat broccoli, not words -- or friends with differing views.

 

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